Thank you very much. I just have a couple of comments. They do tie into some of the things that have been mentioned.
As I have indicated in this committee before, I had the opportunity to be with the science minister in Germany. They told us that, as far as the Canadian taxpayer is concerned, they are giving the same amount of money per GDP and per population for research and development. So, when we hear suggestions that Canadian taxpayers are not doing their part, we should discuss it.
A 2014 Government of Canada report said:
Canada ranks first among G7 nations for investments in R&D in universities and colleges relative to the size of our economy. Canada's researchers produce more scientific publications per capita than most industrialized countries. In fact, with less than 0.5 percent of the world's population, Canada produces more than 4 percent of the world's research papers and nearly 5 percent of the world's most cited papers. Canada's post-secondary institutions have leading-edge research programs and infrastructure that facilitate and stimulate collaborations and networks. Universitas 21, an international network of universities, continues year after year to recognize Canada's higher education system as one of the best in the world.
We have a lot to be proud of, but it does get a little frustrating when we say we are not putting taxpayer dollars in. What we are getting to, and that is why we are having this discussion, is how we then tie business in, and how business is able to get into part of that. That is where I think we are in the discussion.
I just wanted to make that point again when we are talking about leveraging trade commissions. That's what we did when we were talking about how to make sure things were going to happen. That is just a comment I wanted to make.
I'll leave the rest of the time for Mr. Nuttall to continue with his questions.